Guzan’s Padded Hands Impress Villa’s O’Neill

More than three months after his transfer from Chivas USA of Major League Soccer to Aston Villa of the English Premier League, the American goalkeeper Brad Guzan played his second full game for the claret-and-blue Midlands club.

In Prague on Thursday for a UEFA Cup match, Guzan earned a 1-0 win for Villa against Slavia.

“I think he’s a great goalkeeper in the making,” Manager Martin O’Neill told the BBC. “I’m delighted he got his work permit. I thought he was brilliant. We’re delighted the things we saw in him when he was in America have come out.”

But a busy U.S. schedule and a sympathetic coach in Bob Bradley (who had drafted Guzan out of South Carolina) helped to rewrite the work-rule equation. Guzan joined Villa and its other American keeper, Brad Friedel, in Birmingham over the summer.

Until the UEFA Cup match, Guzan’s only appearance was in a League Cup match back in September, when Villa was bounced from the tournament by visiting Queens Park Rangers.

Against Slavia Prague, O’Neill, the well-respected Northern Irish manager who has his club (which is owned by the American Randy Lerner) in fifth place in the Premier League, decided to use what the Brits call an experimental squad for the midweek match on the continent. (Villa plays host to Middlesbrough in a Premier League game on Sunday.)

“We showed we can produce performances both home and away — and the squad has great strength in depth,” Guzan said on Villa’s Web site. “The manager put a lot of trust in a lot of guys — and some who haven’t seen a great deal of action — and I think they rewarded that.”

There is also video, again from the club’s Web site, of an interview with Guzan (and others) after Thursday’s game here.

Great result for Guzan, I didn’t know he had gotten the start. For all the talk about US goalkeepers after Howard we’re pretty short on proven keepers so is great to hear Guzan is coming along real well.

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